New Hanover Co. school board to discuss improvement plans at certain schools

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - South Brunswick High School will open its “Prom Closet” to county students on Feb. 2 in the school’s choir room. The event, running from 4 to 8 p.m., will allow students to choose prom or spring formal outfits for free. In their announcement, organizers at the school stated that they have hundreds of dresses and accessories available, while a limited number of suits and tuxedos will also be available.

COLUMBUS COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - Columbus County is set to receive more than $7.8 million in opioid settlement funds before 2039. Each year, the county must outline how it will spend its share of that money to combat the opioid epidemic. Commissioners recently approved spending $458,284 in 2023 on five...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Community members learned more about a plan to make it safer to walk around Wilmington as Walk Wilmington talked to people about how they hope to build on the city’s current pedestrian plan. “We’re really passionate about the downtown trail specifically,” said Emily Kohls, who...

LELAND, N.C. (WECT) - The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $80,000 in federal funding to the Town of Leland and $575,000 to the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study to develop road safety action plans. A total of $800 million was awarded nationwide, including $8.1 million to North Carolina communities.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - WECT proudly celebrates Black History Month. All month long we will highlight places, people, and moments that shaped Black history in southeastern North Carolina. Sloop Point Elementary. Sloop Point Elementary is one of the eight remaining Rosenwald School buildings in Pender County. The one room schoolhouse...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office deputies had to clear Brogden Hall during a basketball game Tuesday night after a pair of fights broke out in the stands. A sheriff’s office spokesman says the fights broke out during the girls’ basketball game between New Hanover High...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The beginning of February marks the start of Black History Month, and there a variety of events taking place throughout the month in southeastern North Carolina to commemorate it. New Hanover County. On Feb. 9, Cape Fear Community College will host a screening of “C.F. Pope:...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The City of Wilmington is scheduled to host two open house-style meetings for the community in relation to their Walk Wilmington plan. According to an announcement from the city, the first meeting will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Jan. 31 at Halyburton Park at 4099 S 17th St. in Wilmington, while the second meeting will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 1 at the MLK Community Center at 401 S 8th St.

BLADEN COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - A school bus was involved in an incident around 7:30 a.m. along Soup Haire Road in Bladen County on Jan. 30. According to a representative with Bladen County Schools, nine Bladen Early College High School students were on board the bus when it was struck. The representative told WECT that the bus was hit when another vehicle backed into it.

BLADEN CO., N.C. (WECT) - White Lake in Bladen County and Sandyfield in Columbus County are among 34 communities chosen by the state to take part in the Creating Outdoor Recreation Economies (CORE) program. Per an announcement from the N.C. Department of Commerce, the communities will work with local stakeholders...

OAK ISLAND, N.C. (WECT) - Items were found off the coast of Brunswick County that belong to the missing 23-year-old boater last seen in the North Myrtle Beach area during a search on Wednesday morning, Feb. 1. Oak Island Water Rescue says Boat 4490 and 4492 are taking part in...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office says that its dive team helped detectives with a search off the Cape Fear River and found a handgun. “The handgun is now being sent to process to verify that it is a part of the investigation,” said the office in a release on Jan. 31.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - Stores in Bladen and Brunswick counties are among 52 fined by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Standards Division due to price-scanner errors. “Our Standards Division continues to see about a quarter of all price scanner inspections fail and many stores are...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The North Carolina Education Lottery announced that Natalie Carraway of Wilmington won a $200,000 prize while playing the Hot 5′s game. According to the announcement, Carraway had told others the Hot 5′s top prize would be hers. Her lucky ticket was purchased at the...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Last week, Shari Brown got a call from her daughter’s school asking her to come pick 6-year-old Londyn up. Brown said it’s not unusual for her daughter to have outbursts at school, and she’s worked with school administrators at College Park Elementary to find ways to address her behavior. But when Brown’s mother Bernadette Stokes arrived to pick Londyn up, she learned the situation had escalated beyond what she could have imagined.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - The North Carolina Department of Transportation has announced that the right, southbound lane of U.S. 17 is reopen near N.C. 133. Previously, a traffic incident had caused one lane to close near Leland. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Wilmington police are searching for 23-year-old Curtis Lambert Morgan. He is 5 feet and 8 inches tall and 170 pounds. He has blue eyes and blond hair. Morgan was last seen on Jan. 31 in the 400 block of Darlington Avenue wearing a blue shirt with...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Shootin’ the Breeze, with WECT Chief Meteorologist Gannon Medwick, explores Cape Fear and Carolina weather more deeply than standard TV segments. Look for a new episode roughly every month!. On this sixth episode, Gannon dives into the “Four Ps” of winter forecasting in the Cape...

BLADEN COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - Neighbors in the Ammon area are concerned about their drinking water after thousands of gallons of animal waste were released into a nearby creek. “It was a really unpleasant smell of, like, fecal matter,” said Anthony Jimenez, who lives just half a mile from the release.